15 Bad Movies You Won’t Believe Won Oscars

Last week, we compiled a list of 12 bonafide classic movies that received zero Oscar nominations. Not zero wins; nominations. (Yep, Groundhog Day was completely snubbed. Good job, Academy!) This week, we’re flipping things around. Now it’s time to find the worst movies that can legally refer to themselves as Oscar-winning endeavors. Any single one of the 15 movies that follow won more Academy Awards than Frankenstein, Duck Soup, and The Searchers combined. Woof.

To be fair, most of these awards come in technical categories like Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and the two awards for Best Sound. (If we live to 100, we won’t be able to explain the difference between Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.) Generally, the prizes in the top categories are, if not “right” at least defensible; they’re usually films with plenty of buzz or critical acclaim. You might personally dislike some of them, but you can see where the Academy was coming from, and in hindsight, the awards give a sort of snapshot into what the movie conversation in that given year was like. But the lower down the winner list you go, the more likely you are to stumble on a movie that had no business attending the Academy Awards, much less winning one.

In reverse chronological order, here are some of the most shocking Oscar winners in history. Yes, these movies all really won Academy Awards. Somehow.